Dear Editor:

My online research shows that there are approximately 3,000-plus roundabouts in the U.S. They are in year-round moderate to high traffic situations in suburbs and inner cities or on major highways. Examples of roundabouts in towns start at year-round populations of 30,000 and up. I have not yet found any in a situation similar to Boothbay's: small population, traffic surges on a limited number of days, and adjacent to a major public space.

1. The justification for roundabouts is to slow down traffic. No claims at all that roundabouts improve traffic flow except in special circumstances. Our situation seems to be covered by this comment: "Queue development can cause long lines at entry points ... In case of traffic congestion, the gap between vehicles becomes less. This can result in low-speed crashes and fender benders."* Roundabouts are not designed to improve traffic flow where there are seasonal surges and arterial feeders with high traffic volume during surges.

2. "Roundabouts are always unsafe for bicyclists and somewhat unsafe for pedestrians. Roundabouts are especially unfriendly for handicapped people, especially for visually impaired pedestrians ... Pedestrians should cross at streets feeding into the roundabout."* Not practical for us.

3. A safe roundabout requires 24-hour a day, high-intensity street lighting and visible signage at every entrance/exit. Without high intensity night lighting, entering /exiting cars will be at risk and signage will not be visible except by headlights coming at angles. We'll need high intensity lighting.

4. Roundabouts and their maintenance are noticeably disadvantageous for areas with heavy snow fall and ice conditions.

The experts who are roundabout partisans work hard to mitigate these negatives. But they have in mind much larger population areas than ours and year-round heavy traffic where speed is the main issue.

"Our" proposal is a solution in search of a problem. Boothbay doesn't have a problem that a roundabout will solve. It will cost the town 1.3 million dollars of tax revenue. Why not spend it on a really first-class beautification project or some other project that benefits the town and region as a whole?

* Quotes from BrightHubEngineering.com and State of Wisconsin DOT

Fred Kaplan

Boothbay